DeVos, Department of Education Halt New Rules Aimed to Help Students

In early February, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Education Secretary. Two Republicans, Senators Murkowski (AK) and Collins (ME), joined the entire Democratic caucus to force an historic tie-breaking vote from Vice President Pence.  Read more at this link.  Her installation to a position of power over our education system means she spends every day implementing policies with destructive consequences for our country.

Last week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos halted new programs intended to allow students to eliminate federal loan debt if the schools they attended acted fraudulently and were shut down.  

The announcement by the Education Department on Wednesday freezes changes that would speed up and expand a system for erasing the federal loan debt of student borrowers who were cheated by colleges that acted fraudulently. It also throws into limbo what is known as the gainful employment mandate, which cuts off loans to colleges if their graduates do not earn enough money to pay off their student debt.

A little background on these new rules that are being halted:

The Obama administration pushed through sweeping regulatory changes after hundreds of for-profit colleges were accused of widespread fraud and subsequently collapsed, leaving their enrolled students with huge debts and no degrees. The failure of two mammoth chains, Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institutes, capped years of complaints that some career-training colleges took advantage of veterans and other nontraditional students, using deceptive marketing and illegal recruitment practices.

Reaction to DeVos's actions was swift and strong.

Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney general, called the delay a violation of federal law and a “betrayal of students and families across the country who are drowning in unaffordable debt.” She said she would challenge it in court.

A coalition of 31 military and veterans groups sent a letter to Congress and Ms. DeVos this week stating that “veterans’ applications for relief remain stalled.”

Critics including Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Patty Murray of Washington... argued that the department could not unilaterally suspend negotiated rules, which go through a process intended to ensure that the viewpoints of the public and those affected by the rules have been taken into account.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/business/student-loans-for-profit-schools-colleges.html